This invention relates to an auxiliary shell holder for use with a shotgun. Specifically, the present invention relates to a device for holding a shell in a convenient position adjacent to the shotgun forearm or grip. The position of the shell provides the user of the shotgun with the ability to readily grasp the shell and quickly load the shell into the gun.
It is well known that it is often desirable or necessary to have an extra shell available for rapid loading of a shotgun when the internal supply of ammunition within the gun has been depleted. Often a shooter may be firing at a moving target or a target which is otherwise difficult to hit. It may be necessary to fire at such a target several times. Regulations often limit the number of shells which may be loaded. Fumbling for a shell in a coat pocket or pouch may mean the loss of the shot at a fast moving target.
In an effort to provide a readily accessible ammunition supply to a shooter in the field, many devices exist which allow the user to carry numerous rounds of ammunition outside of the shotgun. For example, several different types of ammunition carrying belts, harnesses, straps, pouches, packs, and other personal storage devices exist which are well known in the art. Unfortunately, all of these devices have a common problem. They all are directed to carrying ammunition on the shooter's person.
In order to access ammunition from bodily carried storage containers, the shooter must take one or both of his or her hands away from his or her weapon in order to grasp the individual rounds and then bring his or her hands back to the weapon in order to chamber the round. While such action is not especially difficult, it results in a lowering of the shotgun and may take several critical seconds causing the shooter to lose sight of the target thus making the availability of additional rounds of ammunition mute.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,576 to Moravek avoids the necessity of bodily carried ammunition by providing a cartridge holder that may be mounted directly to a weapon. However, the Moravek cartridge holder utilizes an elastic band construction which may interfere with the functioning of many modem weapons, notably pump-action shotguns.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,157 to Scott et al provides for a shotgun stock that has been modified to include a compartment which is capable of holding extra shells within the confines of this stock compartment itself. Numerous devices exist which affix to a shotgun stock to provide a similar shell carrying capacity. Unfortunately, much like bodily carried ammunition holders, stock integral or stock mounted shell holders do not provide for a means of quickly grasping a shell while potentially maintaining the level and position of the shotgun.
The present invention overcomes the problems associated with bodily carried or stock mounted ammunition devices, as well as the shortcomings of the Moravek device, by providing an ammunition holder which may be readily attached to the forearm of a shotgun and hold an additional shell, conveniently positioned near the shooter's hand, along the forearm grip of the gun. By holding an additional round near the grip of the shotgun the shooter may load the additional round without having to lower the shotgun or take his or her hand(s) away from the gun. Thus, the present invention may be used to quickly supply an additional round to the shooter without reducing the readiness of the shotgun.